Skeleton of Mary Ashberry, 3’ 6” tall, who died in 1856. Ms. Ashberry was a prostitute who became pregnant in the course of pursuing her trade. Tragically, Mary's pelvis was too contracted to allow the natural birth of her child and they both died in the attempt. For many years Mary's skeleton was exhibited with the skull of her stillborn child placed in her open hand. One supposes this was intended to plainly illustrate the conflicts of scale in her situation; but in the process of trying to be clinically illustrative this display becomes a classic example of how such models may seem chillingly insensitive to the human drama that shaped the patient's life and death.
